How to Make Extra Cash in Your Spare Time

Aside from being extremely frugal, increasing your income is the most effective means of improving your financial situation. Even if your paycheck covers your household expenses and provides some level of disposable income, earning some extra cash in your spare time can put you at a financial advantage. Here are a few ideas on how you can increase your earnings outside of your day job, brought to you by trusted financial planner Jan Gleisner.

Get into Dropshipping

Not all e-commerce ventures involve getting an inventory and taking care of shipping. With dropshipping, you only have to worry about marketing and customer service. Dropshipping suppliers are either manufacturers or distributors who also take care of logistics. Once you partner with dropshippers, they handle all purchases made on your website right from their warehouses.

Work as a Freelance Personal Transportation Driver

In recent years, services such as Uber and Lyft have become a favorite source of part-time income for more than a million American drivers. A 2018 survey conducted by Fortune magazine revealed that Uber drivers are often more satisfied when providing rides occasionally instead of driving on a full-time basis.

Sell Your Handcrafts

If you’re good at knitting, making handmade jewelry, painting, or other crafts, you may be able to turn these skills into cash on popular online marketplaces such as Etsy. One of the reasons Etsy is often recommended to those who want to make extra cash is because it also operates as a social network and a tight-knit community of people who are passionate about crafts. In fact, most Etsy sales transactions are internal, which means other Etsy shop owners are active shoppers.

Participate in Surveys and Research Studies

Market research firms and academic institutions are constantly looking for individuals who can answer queries, participate in polls, and provide opinions on diverse topics. Survey and research subjects are paid fair compensation for their input. The key to making money on surveys is to find the right platform. However, quite a few online offers for this type of work are spam. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and Ipsos Research are two reliable platforms.

Sell Your Old Books, CDs, Games, and DVDs

This may be hard to believe, but there’s still a solid market in 2018 for compact discs, computer and console games, DVDs, and books. A burgeoning trend among homeowners is to convert studios or basements into “retro dens” for reading, listening to music without streaming, and playing games that don’t involve going online. The best marketplace for these legacy media items is eBay, where you can find avid shoppers who are collectors and traders. Quite a few people who sell their first batch of books and CDs end up becoming traders who approach this activity as a second job they truly enjoy.

If you truly want to get organized and find out how to make the most of your income, meet with a reliable financial advisor. San Diego residents can call Jan Gleisner today at 858-337-2385 to schedule an appointment.